At the End of the Day
by brodie-wan
Summary: Kirk has a rough day at the office and Christine is there to console him.


**At the End of the Day** **Kirk**

**Kirk**

Jim Kirk entered his quarters and fell, hard onto his queen size bed. Exhaling deeply, he laid there, cheek to sheets, for two full minutes. The silence was a gift. Managing the anger and frustration of his department heads took just about all the energy he had, which was considerable.

Rolling over, he pulled a pillow underneath his head. Big mistake, Kirk. Big Mistake. I guess there are things a captain shouldn't do without consultation.

He stared at the ceiling, but soon felt his eye lids get heavy. Just as he was about to give in to blissful sleep, the door chime went off. Kirk pulled the pillow from behind his head a placed it over his face, briefly raging his own frustration into it. Removing the pillow, he rose and went to intercom next to the door.

"What?" he barked in the transmitter.

There was a moment of silence followed by: "Is that way you greet all of your guests, Jim?"

"Just when I think it's another officer wanting their pound of flesh," he responded, relaxing at the sound of the feminine voice.

"I heard," the soft voice replied. "That's why I'm here. Are you going to make me wait in the hall?"

Kirk pressed a green button and the doors to his quarters swished open to reveal Nurse Christine Chapel.

Her hands were on her hips as if in a defiant stance, but her eyes were tender and her head was slightly tilted to the right. She was wearing the modified uniform which Bones allowed for her only. He liked seeing her in uniform because the white pants and shimmering blue shirt were damn sexy; showcasing a lot, but revealing nothing.

"Of course not, Chris," he sighed. "Come on in."

Stepping through the doorway, she touched his cheek lightly gazing into his pale blue eyes. "You look like hell, Jim."

"It's been that kind of day!" he mumbles, still leaning against the doorframe. She took his hand and led him over to the bed. He laid on his back while Christine was on her side looking at him.

"What happened?" she asked.

"What did you hear?" he replied.

"No of your business," she said taking a more direct tack. "You tell me what happened."

He folded his arms behind his head. "I decided to make some budgetary cuts."

"And...?"

"And I didn't let any of the department head know I was going to do it."  
Christine smiled sweetly. She had heard, indirectly, from Dr. McCoy what happened. It was hard to miss the doctor ranting around sickbay throwing his hand about as if waving in a landing shuttle craft.

"Not the smartest thing you could have done," she said, a smile reaching her eyes.

"Thanks for your support," he replied giver he a disappointed glare. "Didn't you come to cheer me up?"

"I said I came because I heard about what you did," she said coyly. "Not to give you a pep talk."

"Yeah, well," he said, closing his eyes. "I don't need another naysayer."

In a fit of pique, she slapped him on the thigh, hard. "Get over yourself, Jim Kirk!" she exclaimed. "You must be so exhausted that your insufferable arrogance is running without a filter."

She sat up and stood from the bed. She fixed him with a stare somewhere between angry and hurt.

He sat up as well, leaning on back on his hands.

"Chris, wait," he said. "I don't know why I said that. I'm just so tired. I really made those guys mad, and, they let me know it. First, as a group, then on one. I had no idea Scotty could get so hot."

She sat on the edge of the bed, her frustration slipping away. She cared for Jim more than any man in a long time. He had finally allowed her to move beyond the debacle of Roger Korby. Leaning toward him. She ran her fingers through his hair.

"Poor Jim," she soothed. "I'm sorry you had to go through that."

"Me too," he said, responding more to her fingers in his hair than that conversation at hand.

"Do you think anything good came from it?" he asked testing the waters of his ego.

He opened one eye, feigning offence at the question. "I'm sure something good happened. I just can't think about it right now. My brain wants to shut down."

"Was Doctor McCoy hard on you?" she asked, knowing it would garner a response.

"Bones was the worst of them all!" he whined. "'Why'd you do that? I need this. You might have asked!' He was like an infant. Although, I'm sure he sees himself as a father figure. Good grief!"

She looked him with incredulous curiosity. In this state of delirium, he was actually quite funny. She decided to dig deeper.

"You said Scotty got really hot?" she probed.

Oh god, yes. I should have known better than to challenge a Scotsman. He chewed me a new one, 'with all due respect, sir.' 'do you want the ship to fly apart, lad? One missing bolt and we're flyin' in ceercles with only one nacelle!' Can you believe it? The drama of it all. I really need to go to sleep, Bones. Maybe I'll have a dream of…Christine."

She shook her head and smiled at his sleeping form. He was so damn cute when he slept.


End file.
